older

another birthday has come and gone, and i have entered a new age bracket. or an older age bracket. something. kara and i had dinner out, with drinks afterwards, and it was good. then she buckled down and wrote her midterm paper. and i bought beer in a store yesterday and was carded. the check-out woman actually did a double-take from my id to me. so i don't mind that so much.

star is a no-go this year. we have made a decision on the matter. the max factor is part of it, of course, but another not-insignificant part is kara's aforementioned schooling. she's close to the end of her first class and it's been stressful. star island would interrupt her school schedule dramatically and we're thinking maintaining and improving her scholastic momentum is more important right now.

i'm sad about missing star, but there is always next year. if max is still hanging on in 12 months, we're calling guinness.

nicola, dream

here's nicola griffith, seattle-based novelist. in case you missed her appearance on npr's "the beat" yesterday, here's a link to a link of the audio. (her interview starts about 14 minutes in, so fast-forward if you like.) i've read all her novels but her most recent and she's excellent.

and i had another dream this morning about losing everything. our cars were thoroughly destroyed in a storm and we decided to move to new york or boston with virtually nothing. we were going to sell almost everything, the computers, the tv, the dvds and cds, and most of the books. we would bum a ride and live in a small apartment and i would buy a used typewriter and write my novel.

sagan on the landing

here's a friendly picture of sagan for a rainy wednesday morning. she's saying, "happy birthday, jennifer!" actually i snapped this yesterday afternoon, but the sentiment is there.

she's a remarkably good dog, especially for a person who doesn't like dogs. she sleeps a lot, she's cuddly but goes away when i tell her to go away, and she goes into her crate when i tell her to. she's really quite bright, for a beast.

with a bit of a scritch on her chest she lies supine and submissive and rather adorable, i confess. she's a good one.